Surprise, surprise. Miller decided to stand pat because we already are above the salary cap. Don't want to touch those exceptions because then he might have to pay a small amount of luxury tax.

Missed out on Mo Pete, who wanted to come here. He would have signed here for what the Hornets got him for, and I don't think what he got is all that unreasonable. Morris Almond could be good, but he is not ready yet and even if he was Sloan would probably not play him anyway.

Lost Fish, but I do like the signings of Hart and Price. Got younger, more athletic, and got rid of Fish's bloated contract.

For some reason I will never understand, we are letting Dee Brown walk. All Brown ever did was play hard and do exactly what was asked.

We still need a shotblocking big, and both Melvin Ely and Adonal Foyle are on the market, and the Jazz have ignored both. We've been too busy trying to pry second round draft pick Fesenko away from his Euroleague team. Why? Because he's cheap, and that's what the team is looking for right now. Cheap players. Not necessarily players that can help the team, but players that can fill the roster out without getting us over the luxury tax threshold.

We didn't get better (probably stayed about the same), but damnit, the bottom line will be good for the brass.

Good: The draft (Oden, Mcroberts, Green being the highlights) was, for the second year in a row, excellent. acquiring Koponen, and Fernandez for what appeared to be a mere song and dance, nice. Dealing Randolph for Frye, from everything I hear, was a win-win. Signing Blake to back up Jack. Re-signing Outlaw.

They didn't have a draft pick and only bought one of the last 2nd rounders which was some Greek player that will probably stay in Europe for a while. I was hoping they'd maybe grab a late 1st rounder to get Morris Almond or Marcus Williams but it's no big deal.

Free Agents: 7/10

Jason Kapono isn't the defender/rebounder that I and many Raptor fans were hoping for but he will help the offense immensely. Last year the Raptors were brutal team vs the zone, they looked completely lost and I wondered why teams didn't use it more often vs them. Now with both Kapono and Parker in the lineup, zones and double-teams will be punished.

The players I wanted (Nocioni, Pietrus, Outlaw) were all restricted free agents and the Raptors had ZERO chance of signing these guys and not having their teams match. Nocioni was out of the price range. Pietrus and Outlaw would have signed MLE offer sheets which would have been matched. Instead of waiting around and hoping to get lucky, Colangelo went out and got a guaranteed signing in Kapono.

Trades: 7/10

The Delfino trade may have been small but it's a definite low risk/high reward deal. The Raptors gave up two 2nd rounders and got depth on the wings, something that was desperately needed last year. Delfino will be the backup 2-guard and maybe play some minutes at the 3. He's a decent defensive player and good rebounder at his size but his offensive game needs work. I don't much like his shot and he seems to miss a lot of baskets around the rim. His presence should push Joey Graham back in the rotation (YES!!!!!!!!). Joey Graham better not see more than 10 minutes per game next year.

And one more thing:

Re-signing Sam Mitchell: ?/10

I'm not a fan of Sam Mitchell. To me he's been nothing more than a better version of Doc Rivers. A coach that can motivate young players but is he really teaching them anything? There was no structure on offense last year. It seemed like the offensive playbook consisted of two plays: 1) Dump ball to Bosh in high post, hope he does something. or 2) Give the ball to the PG and hope they do something. I hope that like players, coaches can improve with experience because Mitchell has A LOT of room for improvement. It also would have been a strange PR situation if Colangelo dumped someone who just won the COY (albeit undeserving of it). Sam Mitchell should have a short leash though even with a new contract. There were some rumours about Ettore Messina coming over from Europe sometime (he has 1 year left with Moscow). I think we might see him as an assistant with the Raptors in 2009 and Sam Mitchell will be cautiously looking over his shoulder.

Getting Jason Richardson for an 8th draft pick: A
Trading a player who might become good one day and doesn't fill a need for a player who already is good and fills a huge hole. Brilliant.

Drafting Jared Dudley: C
Now, Dudley was probably one of the best players left in the draft. But in retrospect we would have been better of with a point guard.

Letting Brevin Knight go: F
We need a back up point guard. We had the best back up point guard, until the team decided not to pick up the option.

Along with some solid resignings they didn't do a terrible job. At least the big move was a solid one.
There is still some work to do though. A point guard or two to fill the roster, maybe get a real power forward for players like Herrmann and Morrison.

J. Noah--(A-)--Size, defense and can come in and contribute immediately. Will help tremendously against the big Pistons, Cavs, K-G and Heat. Hard worker and good person, which fits in Bulls theory.

A. Gray--(A)--A great 49th pick. Legit 7 footer with some nice post moves. Bascially will be a stiff that can draw fouls, body people and score a basket a game. Need size and fouls to use throughout the season, always a key to championship teams.

J. Curry--(B)--Bulls are in love with him. Can provide instant scoring off the bench (a la Daniel Gibson)

Free Agents

Joe Smith--(A)--Best free agent big in their price range. 6'10" with post moves and veteran presence. Should do 25+ mpg and 10-13 ppg and 6-8rpg. Will have room to operate in post with great Bulls shooters.

Andres Nocioni--(B+)--Vital to the Bulls and can come in and relieve the PF or SF spots. Great D, great three point shooting. A poor man's Ginobili. Teams showed interest in him. Can package him in the future for perhaps Gasol. $8 million a year is a little pricey, but for your #1 bench guy isn't too bad.

Non-moves

All ungradeable since the internal workings are unknown.

Kobe Bryant: From all indications, the Lakers aren't trading him. If and when, they decide to, I expect the Bulls to be in the mix

Zach Randolph: Taking on his $15 million dollar contract would make them unable to sign Deng and Gordon with their expiring contracts. Great post scorer, but not worth potentially losing Deng and Gordon over.

Pau Gasol: Grizzlies said they weren't trading him and they didn't. From all accounts, Bulls made an offer, but Grizz intent on keeping him...for now. If he does become available, look for Bulls to make offer.

Most importantly, they've left themselves enough space to either re-sign Deng and Gordon or make a push for Kobe next summer/during the season. Signing on another $15 million dollar contract (Randolph) would have left them unable to trade for Kobe and/or resign Deng/Gordon.

Should be a top 3 team in East and make playoff push. Core is still VERY young and improving. Their trade value will go up as they improve. Bulls also have a nice salary cap number to forward with the future.

Signing Dwight to a maximum extension: A+
Signing Stan Van Gundy: B+
Signing Rashard Lewis to a maximum 6 year contract: F
Letting Darko go for absolutely nothing in order to sign Rashard Lewis to a maximum contract: F
Forcing Billy Donovan to make a decision while giving him no time to do so which lead to him signing with us and backing out immediately: F

Overall: D- to F

This team is locked into what it is for the next 6 years AT LEAST. Which unless they dominate the NBA, and they won't, that's a terrible thing to think about. Sigh.

I feel your pain man. I love the city of Orlando. But the Magic brass are retarded.

Can we give somebody an F-? Because that's what the Magic deserve...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shogon Vendetta

Orlando Magic

Signing Dwight to a maximum extension: A+
Signing Stan Van Gundy: B+
Signing Rashard Lewis to a maximum 6 year contract: F
Letting Darko go for absolutely nothing in order to sign Rashard Lewis to a maximum contract: F
Forcing Billy Donovan to make a decision while giving him no time to do so which lead to him signing with us and backing out immediately: F

Overall: D- to F

This team is locked into what it is for the next 6 years AT LEAST. Which unless they dominate the NBA, and they won't, that's a terrible thing to think about. Sigh.

I feel your pain man. I love the city of Orlando. But the Magic brass are retarded.

Can we give somebody an F-? Because that's what the Magic deserve...

Well, if we're going numbers lets give them a 0. You ever get one for just not taking the test? That's what they get.

Personally, I'm from Houston and I like their moves. A from me but I do agree we need one more decent power forward in place of some of our guards.

teams that come to mind and their offseason moves:
Houston A (upgraded all weakness, hopefully title run for next 3 years)
boston A (Title runs for 3 years)
Orlando 0 (Forever doomed to mediocrity)
Lakers D (Fischer and thats it?)
Seattle B (loaded for the future)
Portland A (loaded for the future)
Chicago C+ (didn't get what they need really)
Bucks I, D if no Yi
Miami F, wtf are they doing? Smush and Penny?
Cavs D- (nothing)
Dallas B (Eddie Jones, he'll help 67 win mavs a little, but gap in wins will be smaller)
Golden State D (I liked Richardson for them but B Wright won't help the win now Baron Davis led squad)
Bobcats B- (Mediocore but could surprise)
Timberwolves D (Lottery bound team for years that won't retain their young talent)
Phoenix C (Grant Hill will be good but now soft front court but offense will be great)